WorldNetDaily: Big Oil's secret strategy to gush profits exposed

Frankly, I don't know why WorldNetDaily has bothered with this. The Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights has all the look and feel of a 527 organization having the usual socialistic agenda. Their latest charge is that they have "internal memoranda" from ExxonMobil, Chevron, and Texaco executives, suggesting that they not build any more refineries if they want to increase profit margins.

Now if--and I repeat, if--anyone in the motor-fuel sector of the petroleum industry is thinking in those terms, then the next question needs to be, "But how could they get away with it?" Because--contrary to the impression that the socialists try to give--if any player or group of players in any industry tries to limit output deliberately to raise their price, then sooner or later someone is going to find a way to do without their product. The socialists--some of them, anyway--act as though we can't get away from gasoline. So what do they propose? Freeze the price of gasoline!

Well, I was around the last time the government pulled that stunt. I remember standing in line for gasoline, being turned away at the pump, and having to limit myself to a purchase of ten gallons at a time. Who do you think put a stop to that behavior? Ronald Reagan, that's who--Ronald Reagan, who removed all price controls and let the market do its job. Which it did.

So what's happening this time? Terrorism, that's what's happening. Raw, pure unadulterated evil, that sometimes flies a green crescent-moon-and-star flag and at other times flies a red flag with a gold star and a hammer and sickle in the upper left corner. That, and a hurricane that shut down eight refineries--four of which might come back on-line sooner than anyone expected. Those internal memos look more like outright lies every day.

But let's suppose those memos were true. Well, some people are looking for a way to do without gasoline, and they might have found the answer--or part of an answer. Fuel cells, running on hydrogen, will allow the greatest flexibility ever in the use of energy in all fields, including transportation. Fuel cells are not a primary energy source; they're just a battery. But they're the best battery ever invented. Couple that with more nuclear generators, or perhaps with gigantic solar-power satellites that beam their energy to earth-bound receiving stations, and you have your primary source. The only things getting in the way are relative cost and red tape. But if the oils really are trying to gimmick up supply, then they'd be digging their own graves. And I would say, "Keep it up. Keep it up. And you can all share a crater on the moon!" (Apologies to Jackie Gleason.)

But will someone tell me why British Petroleum has a division trying to install solar panels on people's houses right now? In some areas, homeowners can build a solar power system that, with a good battery backup, will let them give power back to the Great Grid by day and take it back by night, and even strike a net balance between what they give to the Grid and what they take back. And if certain highly promising techniques for making solar panels come on-line, then that will drive down the cost-per-watt even further, and make the proposition even more attractive. Watch out, all you oils! Maybe you shouldn't try to play such games.

Or maybe some think-they're-smart second-guessers owe us all an apology--to the oils for conduct tantamount to libel, and to the rest of us for an insult to our intelligence.